The present invention relates to a drive system for a vehicle, and more particularly to a transaxle for a drive system which allows a midship and transverse mount of an engine in a vehicle.
In a conventional four-wheel drive system in a vehicle having a transversely mounted from drive engine, a transaxle has a front differential mechanism disposed rearwardly of, with respect to a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, a main shaft of a transmission and a transfer case is disposed rearwardly of the front differential mechanism and connected to a differential case of the front different mechanism for receiving drive torque and transferring same toward a rear differential mechanism connected to rear wheels.
There is a growing demand for four-wheel drive system suitable for a midship arrangement of a transversely mounted engine. Specifically, a transaxle suitable for use in the four-wheel drive system for midship transversely mounted engine is strongly needed.
This demand is not met by simplying applying the conventional teachings to the midship transversely mounted engine. Let it be assumed that the teachings are applied to provide a four-wheel drive system. In order to supply power from the transfer case to the front differential mechanism, a direction of the flow of output power of the transfer case has to be changed through approximately 180 degrees and then supplied to the front differential mechanism via a propeller shaft passing under one of the rear drive axles. This arrangement wherein the propeller shaft extends under the rear drive axle is not acceptable since it is difficult to keep the minimum road clearance.
An object of the present invention is to provide a transaxle for a drive system of a vehicle having a midship arrangement of a transversely mounted engine which provides four-wheel drive system without any interference with the minimum road clearance.